LinnDrum

We did the Monsters record.

And at the time, Greg was experimenting with the Lindrum.

I believe that some of his Gone records are him with a drum machine.

I was like, Kurt.

That's kicked off every single Love Sexy tour stop there was that is identical here, even though Heaven was not performed during the Love Sexy shows.

I thought you were going to say the Lindrum accents is what gave it the 80s sound, which you can start hearing at around eight seconds,

you know.

I'm guessing the organ and synthesizers you're talking about are like the kind of do-do-do-do-do-do-do.

And, uh, I mean, you're the guy to ask.

I just remembered something, that I got told at some point that you had something to do with the LinnDrum.

Oh, well, I knew Roger Linn very well.

Right.

Oh, well-

...

the LinnDrum

... heard that, yeah.

look, surprise, surprise, we're in Revolution Era, and now all of a sudden I'm like, oh, this song is amazing.

So, hey, Lindrums.

We get our first, like, Lindrum heavy drum programming track.

The drum program is great on it.

But, um, but at least I helped program the drum part, which ... 'Cause I didn't even play drums on that one.

That was a good old-fashioned LinnDrum at the time, and, uh, but I got to at least help program that.

[laughs] I just didn't feel very in- involved in the song, I guess, in the recording of it.

So the producer was dictating these types of things?

The Roland TR-Nine Oh Nine arrived in nineteen eighty-three, a year after its predecessor, the TR-Eight Oh Eight.

Yet it was met with lukewarm reception from manufacturers because it sounded too synthetic compared to the more realistic LinnDrum.

Despite selling only about ten thousand units, DJs found something irresistible in that raw pulse.

The real reason the machine took over Chicago clubs and later Detroit raves wasn't so much its fidelity, but its hybrid architecture that combined analog oscillators with one-shot sample playback, giving it a punch that could be felt as much as heard.

Okay, cool.

And they asked, what are your favorite drum machines? And they said TR-909, Emu Emulator Drum Sounds, Lindrum, Yamaha RX-11.

I think that's what I have.

Electron Machine Drum and Simmons SD-SV.

It still took about two days to fully finish, though, largely because Clive would catch melodic ideas right before sleep, and then he'd record them and then redefine them the next day.

The band used the Lindrum, a Roland SH-101 for the bass, and a Roland RE-501 loop echo to create those mesmerizing backing vocal effects.

Now the chart progress of The Promise halted just outside of the top 10 at number 11, but it's definitely number one in our hearts.

I mean, listening back, there's that new wave synth pop flavor that makes it such an 80s classic, but you know, it somehow maintains a freshness like you've never heard a song quite like it.